Star Guardians: Why it's not about the skins anymore

Disclaimer: I am just a player who enjoys this game thoroughly and wants to see it improve. I don't believe there is ever a point in which something is so loved that improvement is out of the question, in fact I think that should inspire the creators to strive for greatness. Popularity is not the objective, or at least it shouldn't be at this point. What needs to be addressed is the relationship between the consumers and producers in relation to this game. Riot seems to want to create the illusion of PR but tends to turn a blind eye to the community whenever they are criticized. Yes, they do respond to some of these posts, and they allow the posts to be here, but there isn't any power in the voice. There are only a handful of changes, if that, that the community has been able to inspire in riot over the game's lifetime. I simply want clarity on this relationship. Like any good relationship, communication is key. This is me simply asking "where are we?" to riot. I don't expect any changes to be made, what I expect is clarity.

Hello,

As many know, the star guardian skin line is experiencing some backlash from the community due to the fact that there aren't going to be any purified forms of the star guardian skins. Personally, I am very disappointed about this fact, but even more so on what it means for the future of this game. I feel that the riot team is doing an awful lot of hearing without listening. Let me show you three major mistakes the riot team are making and how they refuse to listen to the player-base.

URF vs ARURF one of the most loved game-modes in league of legends, when URF was released it would be the height of the season. Yes, there were major balance issues (Karthus I'm looking at you) but there was so much more to it than balance. We, as a community were angry about a few champions that stuck out and were too powerful compared to the rest of the champion roster, almost exactly like how the community reacts to overpowered champions in the normal summoners rift 5v5. I feel that the balance team could release game-mode specific balance changes like they did with ARAM. Not only were the problems worth the effort to fix, riot decided that the community doesn't know what they want and that riot should be in control of both the producers and the consumers. You can find countless examples of fans, YouTubers, and streamers wishing that URF would come back. ARURF is not a valid substitute for URF, and never will be. The ability to choose a champion that you love to play or that would be fun to play allows for a better experience. Instead, we are forced to reroll until we get the more powerful picks. The thing is this does more to hurt the balance of the game, it incentivises laziness on the balance aspect and increases demand for the OP picks. If we were given the freedom to choose, we would eventually get bored of all the top power picks and move on to things that are more fun. This also allows YouTubers to make content based on specific champions in URF which I'm sure they would be happy with. The community has repeatedly asked for URF to be brought back, but it has remained a ghost for years, and will be for years to come.

The FF Movement (For Fun Movement) Viewers of rossboomsocks know that he is leading what he calls the FF Movement. this movement's purpose is to bring fun back into the game, and it is probably the most needed thing in league. Riot has turned league from a game into a job, its player-base is focused on getting better at the game, spending hours a day in multiple games trying to climb up as climbing is the only thing to do now in league. Currently, there is only one game-mode available that doesn't have a ranked system in place, ARAM. ARAM is objectively a fun game-mode, it allows people to branch out and learn new characters and also allows people to try out crazy builds that only work due to the creep xp and the increased gold generation. The problem is that ARAM's main purpose is to level up accounts, especially smurf accounts to the proper level and then they join the ranked world. There is a children's book I am very fond of that involves thousands of caterpillars climbing on top of each-other on a pillar of caterpillars going into the clouds. The problem is that there is nothing beyond the clouds. once you get to the top of the pillar all you get is the knowledge that you are on the top of the pillar, there is no reward, only knowledge. The ranked system can be very similar to this, as the only reward you get for making it up there is the fact that you are on top, not to mention the very slow pace of climbing that makes it much more effort than its worth is most cases. I want to remind everyone of Nexus Blitz. Nexus Blitz is one of the most fun but balanced game-modes yet produced. It truly works to be as fun as possible, people loved it and were excited to hear that is was likely to become a permanent game-mode, yet here we are today with no Nexus Blitz, or any rotating game mode. League of Legends is no longer trying to be fun. The FF movement tries to circumvent the problem by doing crazy builds during streams, or behaving in odd ways, or finding unique objectives in the game, not caring whether he wins or loses, but whether he has fun or not. This is a great way to approach a game that often hosts the "win or don't play" mentality. the truth of the matter is that riot is too lazy to provide the fun for its community, and lets the content creators create the fun, meaning that if you were to just play the game without watching YouTube or Twitch, you would be left with nothing but "Climb, Climb, Climb!"

Star Guardian Skins I feel like this part is pretty self explanatory: riot doesn't want to spend resources to make a profit, at least not more resources to make MORE profit. in a statement made on the PBE community network, riot stated that purified versions of the star guardian Xayah and Rakan skins "wouldn't make sense" due to animation concerns or voice line concerns. This is what angers me the most. there is no reason that these rules should apply to these skins and not the other star guardian skins. Do you think that Soraka's lines work with her star guardian skin? Poppy's? and even their newest skin, Zoe? Her lines do not fit the role they have her play in star guardian lore at all, and yet she gets a skin. the animations of countless skins do not go with their models, or chromas and yet they exist. Riot can't even update voice lines for Varus that would actually match the character they claim to create. This is not riot trying to respect the player, this is riot being arrogant enough to think that they can speak for their player-base. you wouldn't want this from another corporation, why would you accept this in your games. Where are the focus groups, where is the ability to inspire change, to inspire greatness?

Ultimately, I have become disappointed in a game that helped me get through highschool, that helped strengthen the bond between me and my best friend, and that provided me a place to have fun, enjoy life, and learn to deal with criticism. This game means so much to me which is why I feel abandoned by the lack of League within League of Legends. I'm not asking for change, I'm not asking for people to agree or disagree, I'm asking for closure.

Thank you for your time, Soul of Melodies [sona-playing]